we are a little bit on the humid side. we can see the 96% around glen elle. we're also looking at a little bit of sunshine in iamsville. we start you out with some cloud cover, we're starting to see a little bit of sunshine to peek through, that will be the name of the game as we go throughout the rest of the day. maryland's most powerful radar is dry right now and it should stay mainly dry as we go through time. i'm not going to rule out a chance for an isolated shower to pop up in the forecast. this is what it looks like hour by hour. 90 degrees is what i'm going with. a check of the abc 2 time saver traffic with lauren cook. you were talking about an accident. >>reporter: yeah, it's in baltimore county at windsor mill at old court road at carlston lane. congestion is starting to pick up on many of the main lines, especially the west side of the beltway. as we take a live look at old court road. you'll notice the outer loop starting to jam up a little bit. overall you're looking at a 13- minute ride from 795 down towards 95. the inner loop will be nice and clear up towards 83. traveling on the jfx, if you are use thag to get into the city, it's going to take you 11

minutes to travel from the beltway all the way downtown to east fayette street. no concerns this morning on the northeast corridor of 95. traveling southbound from route 43 all the way to the beltway, you're looking at a four-minute trip. that is look at your abc 2 news time saver traffic. charley, over to you. back now to a developing story we told but at 4:30 this morning on "good morning maryland." a live look at what's going on in columbus, ohio. this is a live look into a helicopter reporter of what they're talking about is a five- car train derailment outside of columbus, ohio, still burning, has been doing so since 2:00 this morning. what we're going to be doing with this throughout the course of the morning, we're going to go back to the flames in the train yard, we'll go back with a live look and let you know exactly how things are doing. a producer just told me instead of five cars, it now looks like it may be an 11-car pileup. people within a one-mile radius have since been evacuated. as always, you can be the first to let us know about breaking news, just download the abc 2 news free app or do so by texting wmar to 46988.

news time 6:31. all new this morning, maryland's same-sex marriage law will be on the november ballot. the maryland marriage alliance which opposes the law submitted more than 162,000 signatures to have this measure repealed. they only needed 56,000 signatures in all. marylanders for marriage equality released a new video asking people to explain why they are voting in support of same-sex marriage in our state. we've got a link to that video at our website, abc2news.com, if you'd like to go there and check it out. every 15 minutes someone commits suicide here in the u.s. and now baltimore ravens running back ray rice is working to stop what may be the cause and that's bullying. he's launching an event on friday to combat the problem and bring awareness to bullying. abc 2 news' sherree johnson is here with more. >>reporter: charley, on friday ray rice is lawmpling an event called a ray of hope. it's a pro-kindness, anti- bullying teen suicide outreach program. the recent suicide of a howard county high school student,

grace nakomis makes the event so much more important. in april, glenn elk high school student grace nakomis committed suicide after she was bullied on social media websites. ray rice held a summer event in may at howard high school to discuss bullying and the event will offer a 22-minute powerful film put together entirely by students. this morning we have first lady of maryland katie o'malley joining me here. thank you so much for being here. we really appreciate it. let's talk a little bit about friday's event. why is it so important to have this in the first place? >> it's just great that we're going to have this event and that ray rice has partnered with meriwether post pavilion and teen truth lives to bring this event to marylanders, d.c. and virginia folks to bring awareness to the consequences of bullying and cyber bullying. just as you said, the consequences can be so severe because of what happened with grace this past april. >>reporter: i know that you have been in the schools in anne arundel county, you've been at several schools.

let's talk about school initiatives about bullying. >> it's important. we have so much work to do when it comes to schools, not only with the students and the parents but as well with the educators because there's been sort of a mindset that bullying is sort of a rite of passage. but it really isn't. as we're seeing now, the face of bullying has changed so much with kids dealing with the internet, social networks. it's very, very important that we get adequate training and that we get people's mindsets and awareness about the severe, severe consequences of bullying. >>reporter: what do you want to folks leave here friday night -- what do you want them to walk out with, parents, students, teachers, what do you want them to walk away with? >> apparently it's supposed to help bring out the awareness amongst the students, parents and teachers to see what these consequences are and how we all as individuals and as a community can stand up and help prevent it. ting kids really need to see that -- i think kids really need to see that as well. >>reporter: thanks so much for being here with us this

morning, we appreciate it. that event kicks off on friday, july 13th. doors open at 6:00 p.m. the event runs from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the meriwether pavilion. they encourage you to rsvp at rayrice27.com. kids under 13 need to be with their parents. you can also log onto our website at abc2news.com for more information. sheree johnson, abc 2 news. 6:35. and police say a teacher in l.a. led them on a high speed chase. that teacher was suspected of sexual activity with a minor and when police showed up to talk to him, they say he took off. at one point an officer hit the truck, spinning it around and sending it into the side of the big rig, all of this you see right now. after that moment, as you see, took off again. the teacher drove off the roadway, plunging down an embankment and landing in a tree. he was taken to an area hospital. take a look at this, a hot air balloon accident all caught on tape. this happened near phoenix, arizona. witnesses say the balloon crashed to the ground and then was dragged through a field for

several hundred feet before finally coming to a stop. five people, they were in the balloon basket, all of them walked away just fine. crews are trying to determine what caused this big fire in houston, texas. dozens of boats, campers and rvs went up in flames after a storage unit caught fire. firefighters say there was a huge explosion and flames shot into the night sky. a lack of fire hydrants near the scene made it impossible for crews to contain those flames. firefighters had to haul water to the scene, causing a number of delays. however, no injuries were reported. a brazen criminal was stealing american flags right from the graves in hudson, new york at a cemetery there. at first police assumed it may be kids, they maybe the ones to plame, but they decided to mount cameras in trees to find out. so guess what, they caught the suspect redhanded and it turns out it was a woodchuck. the evidence continued to mount, once again, as they began investigating the woodchuck's home.

>> we did deploy a pole camera into one of the holes and found remnants of the flags going down into the hole. >> they're very destructive creatures. >> yeah they are thieves too. next year caregivers at the cemetery plan to post the flags in longer sticks in hopes the woodchuck won't be able to reach them, but pretty good chance, they'll ingenius little animals, they'll figure out a way. if you're looking for a car, gm wants your business. the deals they're now offering to get you to spend their cash with them. also target plans to go high end for the holidays, who the retailer is now teaming up with, bringing you limited collections for the fall and winter season. as we go to break this morning, we want to remind you of a developing story out of columbus, ohio. here's these flames we tried showing you a few moments ago. these train cars, five of them counted, that confirmed. there could be more. details when "good morning maryland" continues. 3q

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good morning, maryland! >> a great wednesday morning to you. news time now 6:41. thanks for staying with us. we do know it is july, but have you begun making your christmas list yet? according to the wall street journal, target is now teaming up with luxury retailer niemann marcus for a limited collection just in time for the christmas season. it's going to feature more than 50 products from 24 top designers, a majority of those items are going to be under $60. that collection will be available in stores and also online beginning december 1st. chevy is now trying to attract more customers. the automaker is offering a money back guarantee on new cars and trucks. gm says buyers can get refunds on their cars if they return their 2012 or 2013 vehicles for any reason. chevy is also offering a no- haggle price to clear out those

2012 models. the offer ends on september 4th. neighbors say they knew something just didn't seem right this morning. linda. >>reporter: when firefighters a pimp, that's what one city firefighter was doing. we'll have details on the alleged prostitution ring he was running. also, it's being called a miracle on water, a drowning toddler rescued a mile away from where she fell into the raging water. also the heat is about to hit us and it's going to hit us in our wallets. the number of reasons why you could be paying more at the grocery store or your local market all thanks to the heat. lynette. >> all right, charley, so we're in the mid-60s to upper 70s this morning. we're talking 90 degrees by this afternoon and the mid-90s to come. lauren. >>reporter: well, lynette, traffic is really starting to pick up here on 695 at bel aire road. i'll show you what traffic looks like on 95 and 83 coming up on "good morning maryland." [ male announcer ] it would mean one billion dollars for maryland

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6:45.

good morning, maryland, i'm charley crowson. time now for your abc 2 news to did. we begin with meteorologist lynette charles on top of everything you need to know weather wise on this wednesday. >> charley, i'm all over it. we're looking at urbana right now, we take you outside, we're looking at a beautiful sky. we did have a few clouds out there this morning, but now we are looking at plenty of sunshine and that is going to be the name of the game as we go through time today. we look at the temperature in colombia, 69 degrees right now. kateensville, you're at 70 degrees and upper 60s in fredrick. we will warm things up significantly as we go into the afternoon. but maryland's most powerful radar is nice and dry right now, not going to rule out a chance for maybe an isolated chance for a shower or storm. let's get a check now with abc 2 news time saver traffic with lauren cook. you have a few accidents to talk about. >>reporter: yes, an accident in baltimore county on old windsor mill at carl lane. congestion starting to pick up on many of the main lines including the west side of the beltway. here's a live look at 695 at baltimore national pike. the outer loop is what you need to worry about. all in all you're looking at a

14-minute ride from 795 down towards 95. the beltway in the parkville area here at hartford road also starting to jam as you make the drive up towards providence road. 95 also picking up in the white marsh area from route 43 all the way down to the beltway. that is a look at your abc 2 time saver traffic. charley, over to you. back now to our developing story out of columbus, ohio. a quick look at the train derailment we've been telling you about since 4:30 here on "good morning maryland." producers have now counted these cars for us on this live look you have of columbus. we are now counting 11 cars. that's what our count is. the current reports five cars, but our producers have been watching this very closely. it is now an 11-car pileup, two people confirmed injured and people living in a one-mile radius of this fire, it's been going since 2:00 this morning, they have since been evacuated. as for you, a little closer to home, if you want to know about breaking news, you can download abc 2 news' free app by downloading wmar to 46988. a little closer to home

this morning, let's go live to linda stow. she's in downtown baltimore this morning with more on a fire department worker who's in big trouble with the law this morning. linda. >>reporter: yeah. that firefighter is charged with sex trafficking. he is suspended without pay right now. and this is isn't the first time he's been charged with something like this. back in 2010 police say he was charged with sex trafficking and received probation before judgment which allowed him to keep his job as a city firefighter. police say he's 29-year-old jamar simmons. they also arrested 34-year-old franklin coyt. the fbi collaborated with city police to make the bust. they executed a search warrant at 208 south pulaski street and found a large amount of condoms and sexual aids. a sexual adviser to the state's human trafficking task force says the fbi's involvement indicates there could have been a large number of victims forced to work as prostitutes and that some of them could have been children. neighbors say they knew something wasn't right.

>> there's just a lot of fine women going up in there and, you know, i didn't know it was going on. >>reporter: if you know someone who's a victim of sex trafficking, you can get them help by calling the safe house of hope organization. that number is 443-690-9679. we're live at fire department headquarters, linda stow, abc 2 news. just days after two baltimore fire companies closed their doors for good, the board of estimates now expected to vote today on whether to give the fire chief a raise. the mayor is proposing that chief james clack get a 2% raise to extend his contract. truck 15 and squad 11 closed permanently on monday due to budgetary concerns. two florida teens are facing charges for allegedly killing a former teacher and principal from chesapeake high school in anne arundel county. police responded to reports of a body in a canal in davy, florida. william norman was found face down with duct tape over his mouth and a plastic bag wrapped around his neck. police say they tracked the

bank cards to these suspects, both confessed to beating, binding and gagging norman at his florida home and then dumping his body in a canal. a sad morning now for a baltimore county family and the mcdonough community. alec cosgarea died in a single- car crash on green spring avenue on mop. we met alec when he built a business. police say the teen died when his car hit a tree on green spring avenue. he spun out of control, went off the road and police say speed may have been a factor. the rising senior was a three- year varsity swimmer and a conference champion. a fundraiser to help a woman shot in the neck in may is being held this weekend. we introduced you to shawnese singletary last month. while sitting at a traffic light, another car pulled up to her and a man inside shot her, causing her to become paralyzed from the neck down. now she's been moved from a spinal rehab facility here in baltimore. friends and family members are going to have that fundraiser for shawnese this sunday at the

living well arts studio, that's at 2443 north charles street. the fundraiser runs from 7:00 at night until 10:00. a consumer alert for you this morning, millions of direct tv subscribers are now waking up to discover they have no -- they no longer have access to some of their favorite channels. this comes among a heated dispute between via com and direct tv for fees paid to cable channels. some dropped include mtv, comedy central and nickelodeon. the california city of san bernardino has voted to now file bankruptcy. it is the third one in california to follow suit. the city is facing a $45 million budget shortfall and the possibility of not being able to pay its workers. stockton and mammoth lakes, they both declared for municipal bankruptcy just a few weeks ago. be prepared now to pay more at the grocery store, all thanks to the hot weather we've been experiencing this summer. the cost of basic foods like meats, cereal and packaged items now expected to go up. the problem is that parts of the american corn belt are

suffering horribly from this drought. >> this is about as bad as i've seen. >> we need two or three inches immediately, i would say, and then an inch a week after that. >> i assume some day it will rain, but we are running out of time. >> they do certainly feel helpless right now. a government scientist reports that this past year has been the warmest on record and the climate experts say the heat is here to stay for quite some time. five things you need to know on this wednesday morning, mitt romney is going to be speaking at the naacp's annual meeting today in houston, texas. his speech is amid a showing of independent and swing voters saying he's willing to now reach out to diverse audiences. episcopal priests are now being allowed to conduct services blessing same-sex relationships. nearly 80% of the church's house of deputies voted to authorize the blessing in the next three years. passengers are about to land in rome, italy after their flight was diverted late last night from philadelphia.

five crew members were rushed to the hospital because they felt ill. they say there was a strange odor inside the plane, but no passengers were harmed. a colorado wildfire that killed two people and destroyed nearly 350 homes is now fully contained. officials say the people may still have smoke over the next few days coming in from the waldo canyon fire near colorado springs. and in the next couple of days are a good time to get free food. 7-11, chick-fil-a, starbucks and dippin' dots are all giving way samples of their great treats during the next few days. today you can get a free slurpee, courtesy of 7-11 and we've already determined this morning that lynette is a cherry girl. >> i am a cherry girl. today is going to be a great day to get out there and get that slurpee. the satellite and radar picking up on a few clouds hovering across the area. but we're also getting a little bit of sunshine out there. that will be the scenario as we go through time. you know what? we have the showers and storms off to the south and all this is courtesy of a stationary front that i will show you in just a second. let's start you out with a beautiful sunrise that we're getting this morning around

chesapeake beach. you can see the boats out there rocking on the waves a little bit and we're seeing more of the same as we head into ocean city, starting you out with a few clouds out there, but we're ending up with some sunshine in the forecast for us for today. we do have moisture levels that are on the up side. they are in the upper 60s, so we are feeling a little bit of that humidity out there. right now we're at 70 degrees, upper 60s in easton along the eastern shore, 66 degrees right now in winchester. so here's that stationary front. yes, this is the same one that i showed you yesterday, not moving too much. it is to the south of baltimore right now, but we could have a chance for some showers, maybe a rumble of thunder as we go into the afternoon due to the fact that, well, it's just hovering across the area. and future trend picking up on that. now, as we go through time, things will dry out a little bit more, but we will be humid for today and we will be warmer. we should be at 88 degrees, but i'm forecasting a high right around 90 for today. and the seven-day forecast, well, it looks like this, as we will drop temperatures down a bit by friday, chance for some showers work their way in as we

linger into the weekend and we get hotter as we head into next week. let's get a check now of the abc 2 time saver traffic with lauren cook. good morning. >>reporter: good morning, lynette. if you are headed out to 95, fortunately nothing to get in your way in the white marsh area. it will be nice and clear from route 43 all the way into the city. that's the same case on the harrisburg expressway. you're looking at a 22-minute ride from the maryland/pennsylvania state line all the way down to the beltway. now, we do have an accident to tell you about in baltimore county. it's right on windsor mill at old court road at carlston lane. a lot of congestion starting to pick up on the west side of the beltway. here's what it looks like at liberty road. the outer loop slowing down as you make the drive down towards edmondson avenue. here's what it looks like in overly at bel aire road, that outer loop really starting to slow down. that will continue up to providence road. fortunately the inner loop down towards 95 nice and clear. don't forget, we are giving away a $600 gas card. for all of the information, just go to my facebook page to enter. good luck. >> with groceries going up and gas going up, that will be a great thing to take advantage

of, right, lauren cook? not clark, at facebook. four california kids are being hailed heros after they rescue add toddler who fell into a canal. the girl's dprfer was trying to jump in to help her, but he simply could not reach her. >> i looked left, i looked right, something told me to jumpthe water. so i jumped in the water and i started swimming and swilling out of frustration. >> luckily a group of kids saw the toddler. they jumped in the canal to save her. they pulled her out safely and she is expected to be okay. >> love a happy ending. >> love a happy ending. on facebook this morning, we're also talking about our "caption this." it's got a dog theme once again. >> we've been talking throughout the morning about some of our favorite movies, favorite disney movie. yours? >> mine is "lion king." >>reporter: "little mermaid" for me hands down. >> go to facebook and let us know what your favorite disney

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